Friday, January 19, 2018

Let's Make This Clear: If Gov't Shuts Down Blame Trump And The "Freedom Caucus" OF The GOP!

"Rrrribit!! Blame the Dems for shutdown! Rrrribit! Blame the Dems for shutdown! Rrrribit!"
As we may be approaching a government shutdown today, let's get it clear and straight the culprits will be Trump and the GOP - NOT the Dems. You cannot palm off the blame on the minority party when yours controls all branches of government, and you have the numbers to avert a shutdown IF you had the will. But let's not sashay around this, Trump and the Repukes don't.

Specifically, a faction of the Repukes called the "Freedom Caucus". These assholes fancy themselves the prime defenders of "limited government" and the rule of law, by which they mean curtailing spending on anything other than defense and their own pet projects (read: pork projects). Their two main leaders are Mark Meadows of North Carolina and Jim Jordan of Ohio. To put it bluntly, if the Republicans can't summon their own numbers to avoid a shutdown it will be because these two "legislative terrorists" - as Sen. McCain once dubbed them - don't want it. Hence, they will do their level best to try to round up their 36 odd members and have them vote 'NO' on any continuing resolution (CR) or longer term spending bill. Or any short term extension efforts. (Meadows has also influenced the Rightist anti-immigration freaks in the Senate, such as Tom Cotton.)

With a CR having passed the House last night in a first vote iteration, despite the Freedom Caucus, the scene now shifts to the Senate and agreeing on the House measure. The problem is that if the Senate Dems yield and cooperate they will lose whatever scant leverage they have left to avoid the 800,000 Dreamers being sent back to countries they never lived in. They are also being held - using the CR- with a political gun to their heads - to cough up untold billions for Dotard's insane border wall. (The one he promised that "Mexico will pay for" and his dumb ass base believed.)

Bottom line, do not listen to or invest a scintilla of credibility in any claims that the Dems "are to blame" for this shutdown. That is all Trump and Repuke codswallop generated because they couldn't agree to do a rational spending deal that all sides could accept. Instead, shitheads like Guppy Mouth Bitch McConnell and Paul "Munster" Ryan, e.g.

preferred to point a gun to the Dems' heads using a CHIP vs. DACA template. But this time Dems brought an Uzi to a gun fight instead of a pen knife. That 'Uzi' is calling Reeps on their slimey tactics and going for a shutdown. Who will fold first? I am betting the GOOPr slimeballs.

And what about these limited government House Reeptards? Is there anything more we ought to know before the next CR iteration, or extension (assuming one comes) ? Well, columnist Al Hunt expands in his article in The Denver Post 3 days ago:

"The Freedom Caucus leaders are a byproduct of a divide in the American conservative movement that’s been widening for four decades. One side is embodied by Jack Kemp, who represented western New York in Congress during the 1970s and 1980s and served as U.S. housing secretary under President George H.W. Bush. His was a conservativism of openness, inclusion and the opportunity society. The other takes inspiration from former Senator Jesse Helms, a 30-year North Carolina lawmaker until 2003 whose politics relied on stoking animosities and fear. Legislatively, the two camps voted similarly. But their messages and approach to politics were radically different, with one focused on hope and the other on resentment.

Their influence is mostly negative. A fellow Republican congressman, Charlie Dent of Pennsylvania, said the Freedom Caucus leaders can effectively undercut the House leadership but “just can’t get to yes.”

What about this limited government bull pockey? What the conservatives mean when they tout "limited government" is greatly reduced social spending, for items like welfare, Medicaid, and food stamps, as well as Social Security and Medicare. In terms of military spending and military resources, conservatives certainly don't favor "limited government". Rather, the more money and government largesse for tanks, planes, missiles, missile "shields" and whatnot for "defense", the better. Their reasoning is simple and utterly cynical: The more $$$ that can be pumped into these the less will be available for any social support or insurance. Combined with the tax cuts to the rich, they effectively create an inequitable system with the potential to send this country into the proverbial crapper in perpetuity.

Let us also note the Freedom Caucus - and its Senate allies like Tom Cotton, David Perdue and Mitch McConnell- is dead set against expanding the DACA program as part of any immigration reform package. The continuing resolution (CR) now on offer, doesn't have any place for DACA, period, but does keep the government open for 4 more weeks. It does include funding for CHIP - the Child Health Insurance Program- and also easing up on ACA taxes. This is clearly an effort to split the Senate Dem coalition to get them to contribute at least 10 votes to hit the 60 threshold needed to avoid a filibuster.

My take is that, for the Resistance movement, DACA takes precedence over all other considerations, and hence the pressure is on the Dems not to vote for the CR as it stands. In any case for the Reepturds to hold both the Child Health program and DACA hostage to their insane demands is beyond criminal. It is thus up to the Senate Dems to make clear that it is the Republicans who are ultimately responsible given they crafted a misbegotten, 'take it or leave it' CR. Or to use Nancy Pelosi's parlance: "Thisis like being given doggy doo doo with a cherry on top and calling it an ice cream Sundae."

Let me back up here. The Reeps - if they want to skirt a D filibuster - need 60 votes to avoid a shut down today. Since they only hold a 51-49 advantage in the Senate, that means they need 9 Dem votes. Actually they need ten given one of their GOP members (Rand Paul) has backed out.. But the Dems can't give way to allow even a limited CR for much higher military spending if DACA is left out. This is where principle must take precedence over funding expediency.

While the shutdown will cause lots of grief to be sure, there will be a hundred times more pain and grief in store for all of us - including the Dreamers- if the Repuke Reptiles are allowed to get their way. Meaning they are allowed to use CHIP as a cynical bargaining chip (no pun intended) while inflating the defense spending but doing nothing about DACA. Further, simply using endless CRs to functionally limit government social spending while not actually passing a formal spending bill is totally unacceptable.

These assholes have to be taken down here and now and shown by the Dems that they will not continue to be used as convenient Repuke pawns.

Let's make it clear also that Dotard is the one immediately responsible if a shutdown comes to pass, never mind this bloated swine keeps bellowing it is the Dems' fault because "they want a shutdown to takeattention off the tax cuts." Oh no! Recall last Tuesday Trump sitting in the Oval Office saying he'd sign any "clean" immigration bill, e.g.

Then two days later, after blowback from the Fox News pundits and assorted right wing hacks, he backed off and went 180 degrees opposite, barking his now famous epithet:

“Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?”
This was immediately after being presented with a proposal to restore protections for immigrants from countries such as El Salvador, Haiti and African nations as part of a bipartisan immigration deal.Why did Trump reject the bipartisan deal? For the same reason he's tossing wrenches into other deals: he demands $18 billion for his insane border wall, or much more than the $1.6 b offered in the Graham-Durbin bill. In other words, because this ratbag was unable to get Mexico to pay for his wall, he now wants American taxpayers to do so....or else! Shutdown! The turd is saying in effect: "Give me my $18 billion for a border wall or I will shut down the government!"Trump's eruption effectively scuttled the Graham - Durbin spending bill that would have enabled an immigration solution and avoided a shutdown. But...the bombastic maggot - clearly demented too- wanted to appease his anti-immigration, ignominious base more than govern a whole country. And as Lawrence O'Donnell observed last night ('Last Word') this amounts to allowing Mexico to hold American taxpayers hostage. The Dems are adamantly against this so are being properly pressured to reject any Trump "veto or agree" deal that enables any more $ for his fucked up wall. The attitude of the Resistance? Let Trump and the anti-immigration Reeptards (like Tom Cotton) suck shit.When you wake up tomorrow and find national parks closed, federal offices shuttered, and Social Security checks late, don't blame the Dems for the fallout but the animated excrement fouling the White House! See also:http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/chris-sosa/77322/trump-administration-and-republicans-suffer-historic-failure-after-democrats-vote-for-government-shutdow

About Me

Specialized in space physics and solar physics, developed first astronomy curriculum for Caribbean secondary schools, has written thirteen books - the most recent:Fundamentals of Solar Physics. Also: Modern Physics: Notes, Problems and Solutions;:'Beyond Atheism, Beyond God', Astronomy & Astrophysics: Notes, Problems and Solutions', 'Physics Notes for Advanced Level&#39, Mathematical Excursions in Brane Space, Selected Analyses in Solar Flare Plasma Dynamics; and 'A History of Caribbean Secondary School Astronomy'. It details the background to my development and implementation of the first ever astronomy curriculum for secondary schools in the Caribbean.